What Is Bitrate?
The amount of data processed per second in a video or audio stream, measured in Kbps or Mbps.
Bitrate determines how much data is used to represent each second of video. Higher bitrate generally means better quality, but also larger file sizes and more bandwidth required. For streaming, bitrate is the single most important setting — it directly controls your video quality and determines whether viewers can watch without buffering. Common streaming bitrates range from 2,500 Kbps (720p 30fps) to 51,000 Kbps (4K 60fps on YouTube).
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Related Terms
Codec
Software or hardware that compresses and decompresses video data. Common codecs include H.264, HEVC, VP9, and AV1.
CBR (Constant Bitrate)
An encoding mode where the bitrate stays the same throughout the entire video, regardless of scene complexity.
VBR (Variable Bitrate)
An encoding mode where bitrate fluctuates based on scene complexity — more data for complex scenes, less for simple ones.
Resolution
The number of pixels in each dimension of a video frame. Common resolutions include 720p (1280×720), 1080p (1920×1080), and 4K (3840×2160).
FPS (Frames Per Second)
The number of individual images displayed per second in a video. Common values are 24, 30, 60, and 120 fps.